Tarmac
by PoisonousRedApples
Summary: After kissing Tony on the tarmac, Ziva makes a different decision about her future.


Tony's hand wavered only an inch from Ziva's as they walked towards the airplane together, signifying the space that had grown between them in the past few months. Even though they were standing right next to each other, they felt miles apart already.

"There's still time for you to change your mind." The words came out of nowhere, Tony barely realized he had said them until he caught Ziva looking at him silently.

Sighing, he continued, "What am I gonna tell people?"

"That you were right," Ziva said. "I have to start over."

The slight shimmer of tears in the Israeli's eyes only made him want to change her mind more. "Okay, you and I both know that's not gonna be enough for Abby. You know her, she'll be expecting me to walk through those elevator doors with you by my side, our desks decorated in balloons and signs, waiting to give us her customary 21 gun salute."

Ziva smiled. "I know. Just tell her that I am-" her lip curled slightly, as though she was about to cry, "-tell her that I need a change. And that I will miss her, and everyone there, but I cannot just go back to the life I lived. Not after everything that has happened."

They stood in silence for a moment, only the sound of airplanes and loudspeakers to distract them from their thoughts.

"Can I just-"

"Tony, I-"

"Sorry," he said quickly, "you first."

"No you," Ziva said, insistent.

"Okay...I just have to know. 'Stop this for him'?"

"Gibbs. I want to make him proud. He taught me to follow my heart. I am doing this for him. I have to do this alone. I have to let go of everything that's happened. And I know that I have to do it, _alone_."

"Okay," Tony said slowly, "for Gibbs. You gonna call him?"

"I don't know."

"Ziva, you've got to call the guy."

"I don't know if I can."

"Oh, it'll be fine," Tony said, putting on a brave face, "you know how he is on the phone, functional mute. You'll hardly know he's there."

Ziva laughed, just a small laugh, one that clashed so painfully with the sadness in her eyes. "Tony..."

"Yes?" He stepped forward quickly, too quickly, so that their noses were only inches apart.

"You are so-"

"Handsome? Funny?"

"Loved," she whispered.

The usually cocky DiNozzo smirk quickly fell from his lips. _Loved_, he thought, _does she love me?_

And it was in that moment Tony knew that he needed to kiss Ziva David. Even if he never saw her again, even if he had been misinterpreting eight years of close encounters and sexual remarks and foreplay, he had show how he really felt about her.

Reaching up, Tony tangled his fingers through dark curly locks, pulling Ziva forward and closing that five inch gap between his lips and hers.

From the moment their lips connected, it was passionate. Wanton. Eight years of bottled up emotions came flooding out, all into that one, perfectly messy kiss. Ziva's tongue slipped into Tony's mouth, but this time there was no playing, no battle for dominance like there had been while they were undercover as Sophie and Jean-Paul. This time it was exploration, experiencing each other fully for the first time, hidden from the watchful eyes of their colleagues' surveillance cameras.

Neither wanted to break apart, but eventually they'd have to come up for air. When Ziva finally pulled away, there were silent tears running down her cheeks, a sign that she still hadn't changed her mind.

"Okay," Tony whispered as he looked into Ziva's eyes, his hand still on the back of her neck.

Ziva smiled sadly through her tears, never breaking eye contact as Tony picked up his suitcase and backed away from her slowly, towards the plane that would truly take them miles apart from each other.

"Hardest 180 of my life," Tony said. Both of them were smiling now, but not fully, just enough to reassure the other that everything was going to be alright. And then he turned away.

Ziva could see his head hang slightly as he made his way toward the plane and up the stairs, feeling her own tears pour down her face once again, but never making a sound. She forced herself to smile when he turned back again, taking in the sight of the beautiful woman he loved one last time before walking through the doors of the plane.

The moment he was gone, the smile playing on Ziva's lips disappeared, and she broke down crying on the tarmac. Sobs wracked the woman's body as she watched the plane pull away, and she prayed that Tony couldn't see her from his seat.

* * *

Fifteen long hours later, after spending an entire plane ride staring at a piece of paper with the words "I Will..." written at the top, pushing his way through a crowd to get to his car, and suffering through the traffic outside the DC airport, Tony DiNozzo arrived in the parking lot of NCIS headquarters. Taking a deep breath, he turned off the ignition in his car. _How am I going to do this? How am I going to explain to everyone the position Ziva's in now?_

Fumbling in his jacket pocket, Tony discovered a small gold chain tucked next to his passport and wallet, complete with a small Star of David. He smiled. "Gave me something to remember you by, of course."

Clutching on to the chain, he entered the elevator he'd been inside a thousand times, only this time the space seemed larger, more empty, as though something was missing.

The familiar ding signaling his arrival in the bull pen broke Tony's concentration, and he took one last deep breath as the doors opened, mentally preparing himself for what was about to come.

"Tony!" The cry came from none other than gothic forensic scientist Abby Sciuto, who he had expected to be waiting for him. He received a bear hug, one of her specials that crushed his ribs and took his breath away. "Abs, I can't really breathe," he managed to choke out.

"Oh, sorry!" Abby jumped down, and that's when Tony noticed the smile on her face. It was a smile the whole team, hell, the whole _building_ knew well. Whenever Abby had a major break in the case, that smile would light up all of DC and she'd be bouncing all over the place, her pigtails flying every which way. She was bouncing now.

"Abby..." Tony said slowly, "why are you acting like that?"

"Like what?" Her face fell, and Tony quickly backpedaled.

"Like...happy? Ziva's not here, I thought you of all people-"

"I don't want to talk about that right now," Abby said, grabbing Tony's wrist and pulling him towards the bullpen. "Besides, everyone's here to welcome you home."

And they were. Gibbs, McGee, Palmer, Ducky and the Director all stood by his desk in the bull pen, all looking pleased to see him. "Welcome home, Agent DiNozzo," Vance said in his booming Director-esque voice.

As he reached their pen, he noticed another head sitting at Ziva's desk. Not the bald, overweight, contraction-avoiding probie he'd encountered before his trip to the Middle East, but someone else. Someone who looked oddly like...

"Ziva?" Tony said, stunned. The Israeli turned to face him, a genuinely happy smile plastered to her face.

Tony dropped his bag on the floor and had to restrain himself from running to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I realized we were both wrong," Ziva said, stepping towards him, "I know I can't just drop everything and move somewhere new, start a new life. This is where I belong. I do not want to start over, I want to be here, with my family."

Tony smiled, a large, genuine smile, one nobody had seen for months. "I love you, Ziva David," he said, pulling her in for another passionate kiss. They could've stayed that way for ages, kissing like no one else was watching, until he felt a small head slap and turned to face Gibbs. "Rule number twelve, DiNozzo."

"I know, boss," he said, holding tightly to Ziva, "but I'm choosing to break it. If you'd like I'll hand in my badge, or Ziva can hold off on reapplying to become an agent."

Gibbs laughed. "Oh no, DiNozzo, I think we'd like to keep you both around a while longer," he said, looking pointedly at Ziva. "So I'll make an exception."

Now everyone was smiling. Sitting down across from the people she had come to call her family, Ziva scowled. "Anyone have a key for this?" she asked, mimicking the day she was assigned as a lieson with between Mossad and NCIS.

Ziva pulled Tony close once again. "We have a lot to talk about later. Paris. The car ride the night we got hit."

"And you must tell me what you were going to say to me on the tarmac just over 15 hours ago...speaking of which, how did you manage to get here before me?"

"I called in a favor," she said, "from McGee. He sent a cargo plane to come and get me, bring me on a faster route to DC."

"Huh, nice one."

Another smile lit up Ziva's face. "Oh, and Tony, at the airport? I was going to tell you that I love you."

Tony smiled and gave Ziva a peck on the cheek before making his way over to give McGee a clap on the back. "You did good," Tim said as the two watched Abby and Ziva talking a few feet away. "Too bad it only took you eight years."

"I will slap you, probie."

Standing just outside the bull pen wall near DiNozzo's desk, Vance turned to Gibbs. "Well, we got your team back together, Gibbs. _Again_."

"Yeah," Gibbs said, smiling his awkward smile, "yeah we did."


End file.
